10 Great Albums By Artists People Hate

The '90s were as good a decade as any to not have a gimmick playing a guitar. Not many of the grunge gods were necessarily looking to become rockstars, and a lot of their stage presence came from just being moved so much by the music that they were creating. There was a bit of a middle ground for the mellow side of rock and roll, and Hootie and the Blowfish may have been at the right place at the right time.

That's not to say they got to where they are just through luck. On the back of their album Cracked Rearview, they became one of the biggest bands in America with some amazing singles, taking the jam band mentality and putting it on the charts with songs that had a lot more rootsy edge to it. If a band like R.E.M. was a little too artsy for the mainstream all the time, this was the record that was for the more pop minded fans, like Let Her Cry painting a pretty clear picture of a relationship dissolving and Hold My Hand being one of the cheesier love songs to come out that decade.

It's not like they didn't realize their strengths either, since Only Wanna Be With You is basically about how well you can do even when your whole ambition is being cheesy. There would be a moment where Hootie were treated like the cornball rockers that they are, but in the age when irony was everywhere, it was pretty refreshing seeing a band being so earnest when they played.